Do you hate coats for toddlers ages 9 to 36 months? ​I will spare you the cheesy infomercial video, and quickly describe a few scenes all toddler moms know too well.

You are fifteen feet from the door of your destination and spend three minutes wrestling your toddler out of his car seat and into a coat so you don’t look like a loser mom who drags her kid around with no coat in freezing temperatures. He spends much more time in the cold while you put on the coat than he would have if you had just run to the door.

You arrive at a freezing cold car after an evening activity and you want to stuff your toddler, coat and all into the car seat, which you have read is super dangerous, but you think it is cruel to freeze the kid by taking it off and putting him in the cold seat. You take it off anyway after recalling the horrific crash video you saw, put him in the seat and put the coat over his lap the best you can. He throws it off before you can even start the car. And then cries about being cold. Oh toddler's and their lovely inability to understand cause and effect!

You decide to just use a blanket to cover your toddler because of the whole coat nightmare. You decide you still need a hat to go with it since the toddler pops his head up and throws the blanket off every four seconds. You now spend extra time out in the cold searching for a hat every time you get somewhere and he still throws the blanket off his lap every time you leave somewhere. And cries about being cold.

You are tempted to leave your baby in a carrier, even when they are starting to outgrow it, because they are just so warm and snuggly in there. You can't imagine having to take them in and out of the car without the protection the car seat cover provides.

Busy Mom's Toddler Coat *More Prints Available

$40.00

Tired of getting your toddler's coat on and off to put her in the car seat? Here is your solution! This beautifully soft minky coat/blanket combo with warm fleece lining is simple to use.This is the ideal coat for ages 9-24 months who are taken in and out of the car frequently. It keeps them warm in the car, does not have to be removed to buckle them into the car seat, and wraps around them quickly and easily when you take them out.

After dealing with this for seventeen years, I finally created a solution just as my youngest child got almost too big for it! I have made regular ponchos for my last couple girls that helped the problem, but the back of the ponchos were still in the way to put them in the car seats. Also, the back fell down on their heads if you flipped it up, and their hands were trapped underneath. They pushed them off just like they would a coat or blanket.I decided the back had to go!The Busy Mom's Toddler coat is completely open in the back so it isn't in the way to put the toddler in the car. When the toddler is taken out of the car, the sides wrap around the back to cover their entire body, head to toe. My favorite part was discovering that since my daughter didn't feel the blast of cold when I opened the door, I could take her inside and she would stay asleep using this! ​When it is time to go back in the car, just unwrap the sides, place the child in the seat, and buckle the straps underneath the blanket. Finally, fasten the snaps along each edge around each wrist to free their hands, making the child unable to push it off. If the child is irritated by the hood, it can be taken off towards the back, but keeps the blanket over the rest of the child even more securely.

​When I read posts about SAHM-hood and loneliness, I don’t get it. Newsflash- you are not alone. There are other SAHMs in the world, lots of them!
Okay, okay, I'm too harsh.
It’s not like you can just walk up to that lady herding three kids down the cereal aisle at nine a.m. and say, “You must be a SAHM. Me too! We’re friends now; let’s hang out!” I’ll admit I have practically done this at the park, but I realize it’s not for everyone.

The newest craze is an app designed similarly to a dating app called Hello Mamas that matches you up with a new bestie momma friend. If you are the type of person who likes to get close with just one or two friends and being in big groups of people makes you feel like vomiting, then that might be a great option fo you. However, if you are like many moms who want a social life and reason to get out of the house without the obligation to commit the time and emotional effort that goes into creating a tight personal relationship, finding a local group that meets at a regular time and place is the way to go.
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Though it is all different moms now, I am still attending the same playgroup I found fifteen years ago! The former playgroup moms are the ones I always feel comfortable chatting with at the older kids games even if we haven't seen each other in months. I have also been a part of two different organized mom support groups over the years and hate when I have to miss a month.
So, how do you become part of one of these groups? There are multiple already existing mommy circles that just require you show up!

Use that handy-dandy internet that brought you this post to search for mom groups in your area and find out when they meet. You can try www.momsclub.org, www.mops.org, or enter your zip code at www.cafemom.com for a variety of other organizations.

You can also join a local Facebook buy/sell group and ask if anyone knows about a local playgroup. Always keep your eyes out for flyers towards the beginning of a school year, since this is when many start a new year of meetings.

Show up! It is that simple.

Keep showing up as often as you can.

Now, I get that it is uncomfortable to walk into a room full of strangers who all know each other but not you, and it is likely to make you feel lonelier than you did before to sit there as an observer of a conversation, but it is a necessary evil. I am familiar with the scene: The moms are talking about the dread of a preschool fundraiser you know nothing about, and it does sound pretty hideous, but you have no desire to buy anything, so you dare not speak. One makes a joke that seems funny, but you don’t totally get it, so you feel weird laughing, but you also feel weird NOT laughing at a table where everyone is laughing.
That’s totally okay and even normal. However, I promise you there is a sure-fire way to break the ice and feel a part of the group more quickly.

​You cannot decide after one meeting that they are all snooty, self-absorbed cows who ignored you and hate you, no matter how much it seems that way. There is no doubt that one or more of those seemingly snooty cows used to feel just like you do right now. Remember these ladies all showed up to get their own social interaction fix, not only to provide you yours. It takes time to know about all the things they know about and become a part of the inside jokes. Finally, let’s get on to how to speed up that process.
Not everyone breastfeeds, not everyone sleep trains, not everyone gave birth the same way, not everyone uses the same disciplinary techniques, not everyone travels, not everyone exercises; not everyone has hit the toddler or school-aged years and all that comes with them yet. You get my drift; these conversations are bound to leave someone out at the least, and someone feeling judged at the worst.

But there is one thing that every mom at the table has in common.

EVERYONE’S kid poops.

It is the fail-safe, all-inclusive conversation of motherhood. The worst that can happen is competitiveness over the grossest poop story. But really, are there any winners there? (BTW, it’s me, it’s always me. I am the gross poop story champion of the world. But no, I never feel like a winner for it.) There is no worrying about sounding like a horrible mom or attempting to sound like a perfect mom when it comes to poop stories. Poop is the great equalizer.
So, don’t know how to engage that older mom whose advice you might want, but need to get a feel for her parenting style first? Ask her if it is normal for newborns to poop eleven times a day and for it to shoot five inches up their back. Even if you have read that it is, part of you feels it just cannot be, am-I-right?
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And to you already well-established in the group moms, yeah, I’m talking to you snooty, self-absorbed cows (just kidding, I know most of us are no such thing), when someone new shows up, tell that hideous diaper blowout story. You know they’ve got a poop story too. Even if it is the hilarity of smearing black meconium here, there, and every fricking where, they’ve got one.
After all, once you have uttered the words ‘explosive diarrhea’ to someone, there’s no going back. You have an inexplicable bond.

Author

I am the mother of seven children ranging from teens to a toddler, living out in the middle of nowhere, USA. I aim to hone the craft of giving advice without pretending to have this whole mom thing figured out. I am Christian, but not the really nice kind that is good at it. I am also conservative, but I promise not to be in your face with political agendas very often. I like to infuse humor into my writing, so don't freak out if you are offended or ﻿appalled by what you read here. There is a very fine line between serious advice and sarcastic hyperbole.

​Disclaimer:Some posts contain affiliate links and advertisements for which I may be compensated. My opinions are my own.